


Is There a Doctor Here?

by Squiggle_giggle



Category: The Night Shift (TV 2014)
Genre: Barbecue, Baseball, Blood, Car Accidents, Choking, Doctor/Patient, Father-Daughter Relationship, Funny, M/M, Medical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25783993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squiggle_giggle/pseuds/Squiggle_giggle
Summary: 'Sometimes Drew hated being a doctor. It had nothing to do with the blood and guts, that part he enjoyed, no, when someone found out he was a doctor there was a certain expectation placed upon him. No matter where he went people would ask him about their aches and pains, showing him unsightly rashes or extremely personal questions he didn't feel comfortable answering outside the hospital.'5 Times Drew hates being a doctor and 1 time he doesn't mind it so much5 plus1
Relationships: Drew Alister/Rick Lincoln
Comments: 16
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there
> 
> So another new story, inspired by doctors I work with!
> 
> Hopefully, you like it, I've never done a 5plus1 story

Sometimes Drew hated being a doctor. It had nothing to do with the blood and guts, that part he enjoyed, no, when someone found out he was a doctor there was a certain expectation placed upon him. No matter where he went people would ask him about their aches and pains, show him unsightly rashes or extremely personal questions he didn't feel comfortable answering outside the hospital.

After an unexpectedly long 16-hour shift, Rick had messaged Drew, telling him to meet him at his favourite steak house for lunch. After a quick shower in the staff change room, he threw on a pair of jeans and a soft grey cotton tee that was in his locker before heading off to meet his husband.

As he arrived at the restaurant, he walked over to the table, pressed a quick kiss to the other man's lips before sitting across from him.

"Hey," Rick greeted, looking up from his menu at the interruption.

"Hey, you been waiting long?" Drew asked, signalling to the waitress, he didn't need to look at the menu, he knew exactly what he wanted.

"No, just sat down."

"Hey guys, can I start you off with some drinks?" the waitress asked cheerfully, her name tag reading 'Lucy.

"A bottle of water for the table, I'll get a lemonade thanks,"

"Jack and Coke," Drew said tiredly.

"It's lunchtime," Rick said in confusion as it was barely past mid-day, Rick was trying to keep his tone light to avoid starting a fight.

"You keeping tabs on me now?" Drew questioned haughtily. so much for that plan. Rick thought as he sighed heavily.

"Make it two, cancel the lemonade."

"Great," Lucy said, writing it down on her notepad, "appetizers?"

"No, ready to order."

"Sure, fire away," she instructed readily, flipping to a new page of her note pad.

"I want the 12oz Porterhouse, rare, bloody. A massive baked potato, sour cream, butter, bacon, everything. Coleslaw, light on the dressing, roasted corn with spiced butter, don't even think about putting coriander in it, onion rings, extra crispy, also a jug of mushroom gravy, to the top, don't skimp on the sauce."

"Um… ok," Lucy said slowly, writing down Drew's specific instructions.

"If there's any food left," Rick started to which Drew flipped him off, "I'll get the steak special, medium."

"Perfect, I'll be back with your drinks shortly," with that the waitress was gone. Rick reached across the table and took Drew's hand in his, gently stroking the top with his thumb.

"Everything ok at work?"

"Yeah," Drew sighed with fatigue, offering his husband the best smile he could. "Just a long night. There hasn't been such a big trauma for a while, the amount of DOA's just got to me, I guess. Working 16 hours too is something I haven't had to do for a few months."

"Do you want to go home?"

"Did you not hear the feast I just ordered?" Drew asked playfully.

"Here are your drinks," Lucy announced, placing the glasses down in front of the men along with the bottle of water. Drew drained his glass like it was his first night in college and asked for another much to the displeasure of his husband.

"I'm not driving you home," Rick told, sipping his own at a much more subdued pace.

"Come on, you love me when I'm drunk."

"Oh yeah," Rick muttered, "sleep-deprived and whiskey dick, hot."

"I'm not the one who fell asleep trying to blow me," Drew shot back, smirking as he played with the rim of his glass.

"That was one time!" Rick defended, leaning over and pouring water into the other man's glass, "shut up and drink this."

They continued to chat while they waited for their lunch, Drew talking about the medical side of the night while Rick discussed the legal side. A lot of times their cases would overlap, while Rick was on the SWAT/ tactical team, it wasn't always needed so his unit was used for crowd control and other needs in mass trauma cases. Often he would go to the hospital to attain statements from patients/witness and even doctors, though he wasn't allowed to legally interview Drew because they were married, he would still seek him out and sometimes sneak away for a few minutes if they were lucky. Unfortunately, last night hadn't been one of those times.

"I liked seeing you all suited up in your tactical gear last night," Drew said coquettishly, his fingers delicately playing with the other man's while Rick gently stroked his inner calf with his foot.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh," Drew smiled, his eyes half-lidded as the night was starting to catch up with him.

"I don't know if I can bring any of it home," Rick started playfully, his foot travelling higher, "but if you're wanting to role play-"

"Um… your meals," Lucy said awkwardly, placing the plates down before racing off towards the kitchen.

"Whoops," Rick smirked, not sorry at all.

Drew looked at the meal before him, it was perfect. The steak was bleu like he wanted, the baked potato was crispy and loaded with every topping he could imagine, it looked delicious. The jug of mushroom gravy was almost overflowing, the coleslaw was crispy, the corn was glistening with the amount of spiced butter slathered on it, onion rings piping hot. The doctor made sure he scooped a little bit of everything onto his folk, he would saviour this precious bite with every fibre of his being.

Just as he opened his mouth, he heard a commotion over Rick's shoulder. Looking behind him, the doctor groaned internally, an elderly man was choking, just his luck.

"Is there a doctor here?!" the wife shouted desperately. Drew put his head down and pretended not to notice.

"Drew?" Rick asked curiously.

"I'm not working," Drew told, attempting to take that first glorious bite of his food.

"Somebody, please help!" the wife pleaded desperately, Rick looked at his husband with interest.

"He has two minutes before he passes out, four minutes before brain damage kicks in. They'll figure it out before then," the doctor explained, dipping his food into the gravy. With a loud crash, Drew looked over to see the man grasping at his throat and had fallen to the ground, starting to turn blue.

"Drew."

"Damn it!" throwing his folk in frustration, he got up from the chair and over to the couple, Rick following behind him. Drew made his way through the small crowd of people pushing them out of the way when he saw a large man aggressively try giving him the Heimlich manoeuvre.

"Stop, I'm doctor, stop," Drew told emphatically, pushing the aggressive man out of the way. "Rick, call an ambulance."

Drew rolled the man on his back and looked down his throat to see if he could pull the food out but it was lodged too far down. Drew rolled the man on his stomach, propped the elderly man up on his knee and struck him on the back with repeated strong upward blows. Thirty seconds later the man coughed and dislodged the food, not choking anymore. After taking a few heaving, gasping breathes, Drew righted the man and sat him up against the leg of the dining table.

"I could have done that," the man who had previously given him the Heimlich manoeuvre grumbled.

"No, you couldn't have," Drew snarked, glaring at the man as he stood up and started to crowd the man "older patients are at risk of osteoporosis. You could have broken a rib, punctured his lung. Made it much worse than just a simple choking incident."

"Alright, alright, good job Drew," Rick intercepted, guiding his agitated husband back to the patient. Drew was fiery at the best of time, add in sleep deprivation and hunger, no thank you.

"How are you doing sir?" Drew asked, he took the man's wrist and checked his pulse while he caught his breath.

"Alright thank you."

"Good, just take some deep breaths for me ok?" Drew instructed. The paramedics came, Drew relayed the events and gave a brief rundown of his vitals. They asked if he wanted to ride along to the hospital and he kindly told them it was the last thing he wanted to do.

After all the excitement died down, the couple went back to their table, Drew's stomach rumbling with immense hunger. As he sat down, he noticed his meal was gone. He called over Lucy the waitress and asked her what was going on.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, we thought you left with the patient! We cleared your table but we organised a gift voucher for your next visit for everything you have done today! Do you want us to cook your lunch again?"

"It took 45 minutes last time," Drew ground out through gritted teeth.

"I'm so sorry, how about we double your gift voucher?"

"How about you don't throw out my lunch while I'm saving someone's life?"

"Ok!" Rick interjected quickly, "thank you, Lucy, well take the voucher and be on our way." Rick guided Drew to the door to collect their voucher with much protest from Drew.

"I want my steak! That's all I want! Why is the universe punishing me?"

"You are so dramatic."

As Rick drove straight home, Drew went through McDonald's drive-thru and ordered enough food to try and fill the steak sized hole that was currently there. Some days, he really hated being a doctor.


	2. Take Me Out To The Ballgame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so please take this with a grain of salt as I know NOTHING about baseball, after writing this I could have literally chosen any other sport.  
> I'm sorry, I'm Australian, we don't have baseball here so this probably isn't accurate but I hope you like the story otherwise!

"Go, sports!" Bri cheered half-heartedly when the crowd cheered, pulling her baseball cap down as she went back to looking at her phone.

"Bri, honey, what teams are playing?" Drew asked curiously, looking at her Texas Rangers Baseball Cap they had bought at the stand half an hour ago.

"Um… the Lakers?" she asked hopefully, smiling up at her dad.

"Nope," Rick laughed, "that's basketball."

"Um, oh! Some socks?" Bri asked, that sounded familiar to her.

"You mean the Boston Red Sox or the Chicago White Sox?"

"Yeah!"

"No, not even close, look at your hat," Drew told her. She did as she was told and laughed before putting it back on her blonde curls. The doctor wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulder and pulled her close. "I know this isn't the most exciting thing for you but your dad and I wanted to watch a Baseball game and the Rangers had a home game this weekend, so a weekend away to Houston is still fun right? Plus, you get to decide what we do next."

"Already decided," Bri explained, looking at her Instagram for inspiration, "were getting mani/pedis."

"Bullshit," Rick snorted, taking a sip of his lukewarm beer.

"It's decided and my choice, so you have to."

"Yeah I'm gay but I'm not going to work with colourful nails, end of story."

"They don't have to be colourful," Bri explained with an eye-roll, "just get clear. It feels so good, they massage you, put moisturiser on, you'll feel like a new man."

"How are they going to paint my toes when I only have one leg?" Rick asked, still unconvinced.

"Maybe they'll give you a discount," Bri said sarcastically, making Drew snigger as he tried to focus on the game and ignore the bickering between his husband and child, they were worse than an old married couple.

It was a beautiful spring day, the sun shining down on them but not too hot with an occasional breeze. Bri's seasonal allergies were in check, he had brought along all her medication as a precaution like always but aside from that, when she didn't have her head in her phone, she seemed to be enjoying herself at the game. Drew wasn't sure if Rick was enjoying the game or the endless supply of beer he seemed to shove down his gullet, it was fine though, he could hold his liquor normally, Drew just needed to keep him in that sweet spot of buzzed and tipsy, so he didn’t get too much “liquid courage” and do something that would embarrass him.

The game continued, it was pretty even and made it exciting to watch. As the teams were gearing up for their sixth inning, Drew placed his hand on his husband's thigh and received a dopey grin in response.

"Having fun?" Drew laughed, maybe he hadn't been watching as close as he thought. Looks like he was the designated driver now.

"Oh yeah," Rick told wholeheartedly, gripping his husband's hand excitedly and bringing it to his mouth to place a wet kiss to their conjoined hands.

"Dad's agreed to let me choose his nail design," Bri piped up, sounding very proud of herself.

"Bri," Drew tried to sound stern but failed miserably as he chuckled at her mischievous expression.

"Pink Camo, its gonna look so cute," Bri said excitedly.

"Why don't you just do normal Camo?" Drew asked, knowing his husband would complain less about that when he sobered up. As Bri was about to respond he heard the announcer and the roar of the crowd increase, the family turned to see the ball had been struck, a massive hit. With all the cheers, the crowd tried to catch the ball, not too far away from where the family was sitting. A man jumped up from his chair and shuffled to the stairwell to try and catch the ball. He missed spectacularly, the baseball hit him square in the forehead, knocking him out cold sending him barrelling down the stairs. The crowd let out 'ohs' and 'ahs' in sympathy, people gathering around, calling out the famous line of 'is there a doctor here?'

"My husband's a doctor!" Rick stood up and announced proudly, lifting their still conjoined hands and pointing wildly at the doctor.

"Rick, shut up!" Drew hissed scathingly, trying to hide his face and pull the other man back down in his seat.

"What? You are," Rick said with confusion.

"Can we just go somewhere for once where I don't have to do my job?" Drew huffed, getting up when he saw some people motioning him towards the injured man. He lightly jogged down the stairs, ignoring the cheers of the crowd as he walked down the landing where the man had fell, some of the bystanders had propped him against the cement railing, not the smartest thing to do with someone with a head injury.

"Sir, are you with us? Sir?"

The man groaned, a noise to acknowledge Drew but that was about it.

"Sir, open your eyes for me," Drew prompted. The doctor looked at the patient's head, there was no blood which was a bonus, it didn't rule out internal bleeding though. The patient blinked blearily, long dramatically blinks as he tried to get his bearings.

"Sir, can you tell me your name?" Drew asked, one so he could stop calling him sir and two, a basic way to check his memory.

"Um… T-Tom," he stuttered.

"Good," Drew nodded, "Tom- "

"Oh my God!" a lady appeared next to Drew looking extremely distressed, "Tom what happened! I went to the bathroom and I came back and half the arena is watching you!"

"You're the wife?" Drew assumed, at her comment, he looked up and saw on the big screen, there he was for all of America to see; why did he think coming to a baseball game was a good idea again?

"Yes, I'm Mary, Tom's wife!"

"Ok, is there any pre-existing conditions I need to be aware of?" Drew asked.

"Not that I know of," his wife said worriedly.

"Ok, Mary I need you to sit next to your husband," Drew said, guiding her how he wanted her, "now put your hands on either side of his neck firmly but not enough to obstruct his breathing. I need you to keep his neck still until we can determine if there has been any damage caused."

"Ok," Mary agreed tearfully

"Ok Tom," Drew said, directing his focus back to the patient. "I want you to follow my finger with your eyes only." Tom listened to Drew's instructions, watching as Drew moved his finger in a cross-motion in front of his face. The doctor frowned as he noticed one of the pupils wasn't as reactive as the other but he kept that information to himself.

"Good work Tom, do you have any pain or numbness anywhere else besides your head?"

"I… don't think so?" Tom said.

"That's fine, let me know if that changes," Drew explained. As Drew continued on with his assessment one of the stadium employees approached him, letting him know an ambulance was on the way and if he needed any assistance. The doctor said he was fine for now and would continue to monitor the patient until help arrived.

Tom managed to stay conscious for the ten minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive, once the shock wore off, he started to complain his arm hurt and Drew could see a nasty bruise starting to form on his wrist. It didn't look broken at first glance but it was most likely sprained. The paramedics arrived not too long after, the crowd cheering loudly at their appearance.

They loaded Tom onto a backboard and placed a neck brace on him as a precaution, Drew relayed his findings to the paramedics who were grateful for having someone there who knew what they were doing. The doctor waved his patient goodbye before going back to his family to enjoy what was left of the game.

* * *

During the last innings, a man in an impressive suit approached Drew and his family, smiling warmly at him.

"Can I help you?" Drew asked not unkindly. It had happened a lot over the last hour, many people from the crowd had come up to him asking for photos or autographs with him. Bri had been having a great time on Twitter and Instagram, showing her father that he was trending and had his own hashtag now, much to Drew's dismay.

"Dr. Alister?" The man asked, outstretching his hand in a handshake.

"Yes, sir," Drew confirmed, standing and shaking the man's hand.

"I'm the manager of the stadium and I just wanted to say it was extremely heroic what you did here today."

"Just doing what anyone else would," Drew told.

"No son, not many people would," the manager said, "That's why I would like to offer you season tickets free of charge."

"Oh wow," Drew exclaimed.

"More baseball?" Bri whined.

"Thank you so much," Drew continued, ignoring his ungrateful child.

"Its no problem, you saved me a lawsuit. See you at the next game boys," after handing Drew the envelope with the tickets, he was gone. Rick leaned over and took the envelope as Drew sat down, looking at tickets.

"Holy crap, look at these seats!"

"You know," Bri said smiling at her dads, "if I have to go to a baseball game every week, you have to do I things I want to do every week right? Facials, massages, oh leg waxing!"

"You should have just let the guy die," Rick moaned, draining his beer in one mouthful. There wasn't enough alcohol in the world to get him through this.


	3. Chapter 3

Drew was having a good dream, a great dream actually. He didn’t know how it started but he was enjoying a very intimate dream with some faceless man, all tanned and full of muscles, somewhere on a beach in the Mexican sun. No, this gorgeous mystery man wasn’t his husband but he was asleep! He had no control over what his subconscious thought up!

Just as Drew felt himself getting lost even further into the amazing dream, he heard something drawing him out of his sleep. Pulling him out of his REM cycle and kicking and screaming into wakefulness, the hiccupping sound turning into loud, desperate sobs.

Everyone knew the rules in the Alister-Lincoln household, don’t wake anyone up who has just finished Night Shift unless it’s an emergency and by the bloodshot eyes and the tearstained cheeks of his teenage daughter, Drew knew that was exactly the case.

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?” Drew asked tiredly, his voice thick with sleep as he rubbed his eyes, sitting up in the bed.

“We… and she… her arm!” Bri tried to explain, crying harder. Drew sighed in exhaustion, patting the bed next to him, Bri sat down as she gasped for air in her upset state.

“Take a breath, tell me what happened.”

“Jasmine cut her arm!”

“Where is she?  
  


“In the kitchen.”

“Alright, I’ll be there in a minute,” Bri quickly left the room and Drew groaned. He looked at his phone and saw he had only been asleep for an hour. He grabbed a shirt from the end of the bed and stumbled down to the kitchen to find the girls, Jasmine, Bri’s friend, holding a large bloody wad of paper towel to just below her elbow.

“What happened?” Drew asked as he walked over, a slight tone of anger creeping into his voice as he noticed just _how much_ blood there was.

  
“We were going to swim in the lake,” Bri started, tears still slowly streaming down her face. “we were on the jetty and Jas fell, she must have landed on a nail or something. Then she started bleeding everywhere!”

“It’s alright,” Drew assured, “Jas, can you move the paper towel out of the way so I can have a look please?” Tearfully, the teen complied and… yeah, that’s gonna need stitches.

“Ok, Jas I can either take you to the hospital and have one of them fix you up there or I have my medical bag here and I can stitch your arm up for you. You might want to ring your parents and talk to them-”

“You do it,” the scared teen said, shaking her head at the thought of going to the hospital and calling her parents.

“Ok,” Drew complied quickly in understanding, “Bri, in my room is a big black duffle bag, should be in the walk-in closet on the left hand side, can you get it, please?”

While the blonde left, Drew called Jasmine’s mother. He explained what had happened, to which her mother just laughed and said she was always a clumsy girl and something like this was bound to happen. Drew went through a few standard questions, asking about allergies, when she last had a tetanus shot and if she consented to him stitching up her daughter’s arm.

Bri lugged the bag into the room and handed it to her dad, watched as he got out his necessary items. Drew put on a plair of disposable gloves, threw the bloody paper towel in the bin, cleaned the area with antiseptic, checked for foreign matter in the wound before he injected some numbing to the area.

“Is it going to scar?” Jasmine asked with concern as Drew threaded his needle.

“A little,” he answered honestly, “but it will be in the outside crease of your elbow so it shouldn’t be too noticeable. Besides guys dig scars.”

“I thought only girls liked scars?” Bri asked curiously, pouring them all a glass of soda as Drew said the sugar would be helpful for the slight blood loss Jasmine had endured.

“Everyone likes scars,” Drew shrugged.

“I don’t,” Jasmine pouted looking down at her arm, “I look like some patchwork voodoo doll.”

“It'll be five stitches at most,” Drew assured comfortingly, “I can just cut the arm off if that’s what you want instead?”

“Dad!” Bri scolded, “you could be more sympathetic.”

“No boy will ever want me now!” Jasmine cried in despair.

“Oh Jesus,” Drew muttered under his breath. He was way too tired to be dealing with this level of teenage girl drama. “Um well…” Drew started, trying to think of something that would soothe her but he had nothing.

“That’s not true!” Bri interjected suddenly, which he was truly grateful for. “Tony LeMarco has been totally crushing on you! When he sees your arm, I bet he’ll want to carry your bag and do stuff for you! He won’t be able to keep away from you.”

“Yeah,” Drew agreed, thankful he wasn’t the one who had to come up with a solution.

“You think so?” Jasmine asked shyly.

“Of course, he won’t be able to keep his hands off you!”

“Hey!” Drew warned, the teen girls shared a knowing look before dissolving into giggles. A few minutes later, Drew was finished with the sutures, applying one last dab of disinfectant then placing on a dressing.

“Alright, so they will be in for about 7-10 days. I want you to come into work tonight so I can write you a script for some antibiotics, I would write it here but I don’t keep a script pad in the house in case it gets stolen. The antibiotics are just to make sure you don’t get an infection from the nail but other than that, keep it clean and dry, you have my number if you have any questions.”

“Thanks, Drew,” Jasmine smiled at him.

“No problem,” Drew told, collecting all of the used materials into a bag and sealing it before placing it into the trash. He searched into his duffle again and retrieved a few pills. “I want you to take these, one is a general antibiotic that will tide you over until tonight and this is some paracetamol for the pain once the numbing wears off.”

“Paracetamol? That’s it?” Jasmine whined with fake disappointment.

“Come to me when you break a bone, then you get the good stuff,” Drew joked then saw a mischievous look spread between the teens. “That is not a challenge!”

“You used to be cool,” Bri told her father condescendingly as Jasmine followed the doctor’s orders and swallowed her medication.

“I was never cool,” Drew told his daughter as he led them towards the lounge room, “alright you two, go sit on the couch and watch a movie or something. Jas, I want you to take it easy for the rest of the day. Now I'm going back to bed, please, I beg you, please let me get some sleep and don’t do anything else that you could potentially need a doctor. Don’t even eat, I had to help an old man choking the other week, I don’t need to repeat it with you today.”

“Is that the day you got all the McDonalds?” Bri asked curiously as she flipped through Netflix trying to find something to watch.

“I'm going to bed,” Drew told, not dignifying that with an answer, rolling his eyes when he heard the teens laughing at him. He watched them momentarily, Jasmine propping her arm on a pillow as she laid on the couch as Bri settled on some gory horror flick, odd choice since he thought she would have seen enough blood for the day.

He went back to his bedroom and settled under the covers. Drew hoped for sleep to encompass him soon, maybe he could get back to that nice dream he was having.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, here is the next chapter

It was a beautiful summer night, Rick and Drew had just dropped Bri off a small concert in the park with a group of her girlfriends and had decided to make the most of the night together by going out to eat on 'The Riverwalk', it was like a little touch of Venice right here in Texas.

They chatted as they drove, catching up on the week's events and filling each other in. Driving on the highway now, they noticed the traffic become more congested and slower before coming to a complete stop. Rick looked out the driver's side window, squinting to see what was the cause of the commotion.

"We're going to miss our reservation," Drew sighed, getting his phone out ready to call the restaurant to see if they could push their reservation back so they could keep the table for them.

"I'm going to see what's going on," Rick told, squeezing his husband's knee as he exited the car and jogged towards the cause of the traffic stop. Drew called the restaurant, who explained they could only push their reservation back half an hour as it was a Friday night. As he waited, he checked in with his daughter to see how her night was going, he received a group photo in reply, the girls dancing along to the band playing, it brought a smile to his face.

A few minutes later, Rick walked up to the passenger side door, and Drew pressed the button for the electric windows to greet him.

"There's a multi-car pile-up," Rick explained as Drew deflated in his seat, "no major injuries but the paramedics are twenty minutes out and there is no room for a chopper to land on the highway… I thought since you're a doctor…"

"Rick," Drew whined. He was exhausted, it had been a long draining week, he barely agreed to go out tonight with his husband and the thought of seeing people in pain and in need of his help, depending on him to make a life-altering decision. It was not something he was mentally prepared to do tonight.

"I wouldn't put you in this situation but we can't go anywhere with the scene blocking the roads."

"I put on a nice shirt," Drew explained, pulling at his steel blue button-down, "I wore that cologne you bought me, so we could go out for dinner together, alone, when was the last time we did that?"

"I know," Rick consoled, "I'll make it up to you."

"Fine," Drew sighed in defeat, opening the door and getting out. Rick retrieved his gym bag, pulling out a black cotton tee for Drew to change into, so he wouldn't ruin his dress shirt.

* * *

"Cap," one of the police officers greeted Rick with a shake of his hand as the couple was ushered in under the caution tape.

"This is my husband, Dr. Drew Alister."

"Dr. Alister, I'm Randy Symons," the officer introduced, leading him to one of the crashed cars, "we're so grateful you're here, Friday night traffic is hell and even with lights and sirens, we can't get emergency services here. We've done a quick assessment of the victims, there seem to be no major injuries at first glance. We have a basic first aid kit but it's nothing fancy, unfortunately, if you could just keep the patients alive until the ambulance arrives, I'd appreciate it."

"So, no pressure," Drew asked sarcastically as he took the first aid kit from another officer and put on a pair of disposable gloves. The doctor looked in the first aid kit and they weren't lying when they said it was nothing fancy, a few rolls of bandages, band-aids, some disinfectant, disposable tweezers, and medical tape.

Drew made his way to all three cars, triaging all the patients as he went. The first car was a single male in his forties, who had sustained only one injury, minor bruising from the seatbelt, no complaints of aches or pains. Drew quickly assessed his body, finding no other notable injuries, and told him to wait away from his vehicle so it could be moved, to let one of the police officers know if his condition changed and he would be back but for now he moved to the second car.

The second car, two females, early twenties. The first female has a small contusion to her forehead, bruising to her arm and shoulder from the seatbelt. The second female has multiple lacerations to her right forearm from the side window where it had shattered upon impact, also complaining of pain in her right ankle. Drew assessed both patients carefully, he gained the help of his husband and studiously instructed him on how to clean the first patient's forehead while started to debride the second patient's arm of the few specs of glass still present in her forearm. When he was finished, he looked at her ankle and could see it beginning to swell, no doubt in his mind it was broken. He looked at his first aid kit again and knew he didn't have the tools to treat her so he compromised, since he wouldn't be able to cut her shoe off, he moved her to rest in the back of a squad car with her foot elevated until the paramedics arrived and could properly treat her.

The third car was the worst by far, completely mangled as it was the cause of the accident. The driver had lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the concrete barrier, the two other cars hadn't had much of a chance to stop and ran into the crashed car. Drew had had to wait before he could assess the last patient but the driver had been up and walking around when he arrived, seemingly capable enough to give the police his statement.

Drew did his normal work-up on a patient he would consider having a head injury, he asked their name, date of birth, what day of the week it was if they could follow Drew's finger when he moved it in front of their face, the man passing easily.

It blew his mind and also incredibly frustrated Drew that people could walk away from accidents like this injury-free. It always brought his mind back to his husband, to the day of the bus crash. He had found out another driver had run a red light causing the bus driver to swerve, causing the bus to roll, injuring everyone on board. Rick, thankfully, didn't remember a lot about the crash, not that he ever wanted to talk about it, and Drew never pushed but the driver who ran the red light? Injury-free and only received a fine for his reckless driving. To the doctor, it didn't seem like a severe enough punishment for all the pain and suffering that all the men went through.

"Hey," Rick said, placing a hand on Drew's shoulder, causing him to jump in fright, "the ambulances are here, they're moving the cars out of the way and letting traffic through. We can go now."

"Oh, ok," Drew said solemnly.

"I'm gonna get the truck," Rick said, motioning with his thumb in the general direction of the parked vehicle, "you good?"

"Yeah," Drew sighed, quickly rubbing his eyes as he looked back at the scene, "just vehicle accidents affect me differently these days, since your leg."

"Hey," Rick said affectionately, wrapping an arm around his husband's waist and pulling him close, "I'm fine, ok? Sure, it took a little for me to adjust but I think it worked out for the best, I get to stay stateside, live with you, we came out, we adopted a beautiful child together, we got married! I don't think we would have accomplished that much if we were both being deployed, only getting to see each other weeks out of the year."

"I know," Drew agreed, leaning into the other man's hold, "I just don't like that it happened to you, that someone else put you in so much pain, not only you but your men as well and Wilson…"

"Wilson was the happiest I had ever seen him before he passed," Rick quickly assured, "Krista did an incredible job that night, all of you did, especially you, I was so proud of you."

"Yeah?"

"Of course, I know how scared you were but you did it anyway, not just for me but for yourself."

"Thanks," Drew said, closing his eyes as he felt himself getting overwhelmed, "Alright, enough of this," Drew laughed as he rubbed his eye again, he didn't his emotions getting the best of him in the middle of an accident, surrounded by people he didn't know. Rick chuckled, placed a chaste kiss to his husband's temple, and hugged him tightly.

"Do you still want to go out or just get some food and go home?" Rick asked curiously.

"Oh, we're going out," Drew confirmed, causing Rick to chuckle, "you make me do my job after working 6 days of 12-hour shifts? You best believe we are going out."

"Guess I'm paying then?" Rick asked playfully.

"Of course, you," Drew told, Rick, rolled his eyes as he walked towards the truck, devilishly slapping his husband's ass as he went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two more chapters  
> Probably a good thing as this story isn't getting a warm reception lol


	5. Chapter 5

Drew was busy shopping one morning after work, still dressed in his scrubs, his head buried in his phone as he texted back and forth with Rick. The officer was at home cooking for the couple, constantly updating his husband with his requests for ingredients he needed for breakfast.

Drew was in the fresh produce section grabbing some fruit, placing it in the trolley, rolling his eyes as his phone vibrated and dinged again. He looked at the message curiously seeing it read ' _canned whip cream'_ , shrugging he headed off to the dairy section and retrieved it. A moment later another message with ' _chocolate syrup_ ' flashed on the screen, raising an eyebrow, Drew waited, undoubtedly there would be another message. Sure enough 30 seconds later another message from Rick " _caramel sauce"_.

Picking up his phone, Drew quickly tapped out a reply.

" _Are you making breakfast or recreating 50 Shades of Grey?"_

Seconds later Rick replied.

" _;)_ "

"Are you a doctor?"

"What?" Drew snapped confusedly. He glanced up from his phone, locking it when he saw Rick was typing something else, and knowing his husband, Drew did not want anyone else seeing the dirty message.

"I asked if you were a doctor?" repeated the man in front of him. It was an elderly man, most likely in his mid-eighties, average height with a bit of a stoop, wearing a dark grey flat cap and matching cardigan.

"Um… yeah," Drew tentatively admitted, pocketing his phone when it pinged with a message.

"Oh good!" the man said excitedly, "I have this mole on my arm- "

"Look, sir," Drew cut in, "I'm sorry but I'm off duty- "

"It won't take you long!" he continued; Drew groaned internally. He knew he should have changed before he left the hospital but he thought he would be in an out at the supermarket then home. You'd be surprised how often this happened to him. Sometimes patients he had previously treated would recognise him and would update him on their condition, he didn't mind that, he actually enjoyed knowing how patients he treated were going, if they were improving or declining, if there was something he could do to help.

What he didn't like was being forced to give a consult in the middle of the grocery store to a random stranger. For one, he didn't have any PPE, if they had something contagious or infectious, he had no way to protect himself. Another reason, it made him feel very exposed, put on the spot, as though he was forced to treat someone when he wasn't working, he hated it when he was out with his family, sometimes politely telling them didn't always do the trick.

"Sir, I'm a trauma/emergency room doctor, for a mole on your arm it would be best to see your GP or a dermatologist," Drew explained, ever so subtly trying to sidestep the man.

"Surely you had training in this, come on it will only take a second," the man persisted. The doctor began counting to ten in his head, it was some BS method Rick had told him to use to calm down and so far, it wasn't doing much.

"It's not very appropriate," Drew tried to explain, moving his trolley to the side as he made a move to go around the man.

"Why?" he pressed, "think you can't do it?".

Now if Drew was in a different frame of mind, he might have let the dig slide but having his medical ability taken into question was not something he took lightly. Scowling, Drew let go of his groceries and approached the man, roughly grabbing his arm and inspecting the area. Honestly, it looked like a regular arm, skin, hair, freckles, some wrinkles due to age. There were a few sunspots, nothing sinister-looking, he found the mole the man was talking about, it was of average size, medium brown in colour, no crusting or abnormalities he could see with the naked eye and without a dermatoscope.

"Has it changed in size or colour?" Drew asked.

"No."

"Any other concerns with it or is something you thought you should have checked?" _by a random doctor you found in the supermarket?_ Drew kept the last part to himself.

"Something my wife has been nagging me to get looked at," he conceded, "saw you and thought I would ask."

"Well," Drew said, letting go of the man's arm and placing his hands in the pocket of his scrub top, "it looks ok to me, can't really do too much here but just a quick observation. If you have more concerns, I would book in with a dermatologist, have a full-body skin check, they might be able to biopsy the mole and send it to pathology for testing if you or your wife is still concerned."

"I'll run it passed the wife and let her make the decision, she makes all the other decision in my life anyway, I bet your wife does too," the man said with a laugh.

"Ah yeah, something like that," Drew said awkwardly.

"Thanks, sport," the elderly man said with a wave before heading off towards the checkout.

"Sport?" Drew muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. He knew this wouldn't be the last time something like this would happen but he felt good giving the elderly man information on how to proceed, whether he followed his advice was another thing altogether.

As he was making his way to the registers, Drew's phone buzzed to life and he smirked when he read the message from his husband. Drew grabbed the last of the groceries and headed home, eager to see if Rick was going to live up to the promises, he had made in his texts.


	6. Plus 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter
> 
> Plus 1

Drew yawned obnoxiously loud as he entered his home, it was a Sunday morning and Saturday nights were always hectic at SAMH. Yes, he had been young and crazy once but why did people have to end up at the hospital? There had been an exorbitant amount of call outs, broken bones, lacerations from drunken injuries; he had pumped so many stomachs last night he wasn't sure when he was going to have his next drink!

As he was walking towards the kitchen, he didn't expect the smell of coffee and bacon to be wafting through the air, normally it would be too early for anyone else to be up on a Sunday. He rounded the corner and was affronted by the scene in front of him, a bloody chopping board, a large chef knife to the left as Rick had Bri's hand under the tap, the teen looking down at her hand with a grimace.

"What's going on?" Drew asked with concern, dropping his backpack on a barstool by the island bench as he watched the pair. Father and daughter looked up, not noticing his presence beforehand.

"Bri wanted to join the stub club and cut off her finger," Rick explained, turning off the tap, grabbing some paper towel and holding it to the wound on her finger.

"That's dark," Drew frowned at his husband's sense of humour.

"I was trying to cut some bacon for the dog," Bri explained, "he jumped on me when I started cutting and the knife slipped."

"Is the dog- "

"He's outside," Bri sighed, "it's fine, it's not his fault. I shouldn't have been using such a big knife when I was barely awake."

"Do you need me to look at it?" Drew asked, coming around the counter, peering over his husband's broad shoulder to see the damage.

"It's an itty-bitty cut on a finger, I think I can manage, doctor," Rick said with a roll of his eyes. Drew put his hands up in surrender before going to the coffee machine and making himself a cup. After, he cleaned up the spoiled bacon and wiped down the bench, knowing Bri would most likely go back to making breakfast once she was all bandaged up.

Drew sat opposite the pair on his barstool, tentatively sipping his hot coffee watching them fondly. Bri winced as Rick probably too roughly dabbed her finger with some disinfectant, too tightly put on some butterfly bandages before adjusting them so they were just right. The teen didn't complain though, she most likely could have done it herself but she smiled at the concentration on Rick's face as he went through the motions of caring for his daughter.

"Ok, good as new, well kinda," Rick said as he held up Bri's left pointer finger, "no more 'Five Finger Fillet' for you."

"What?" Bri asked with confusion as she took her hand back.

"Do they not teach you anything at school?"

"Not really," Bri shrugged, throwing the used medical items into the bin.

"Why do I even pay those school fees?" Rick asked himself, making himself a cup of coffee at the machine now.

"You don't," Bri reminded as she went to let the dog back inside before starting to cook breakfast again, "you send me to a broke-ass public school."

"Hey, you were the one who didn't want to go to that private school," Drew told, "something about the ugly school uniforms?"

"Who thought that brown and yellow was a good colour combination?" Bri asked seriously, placing strips of bacon into the pan, cracking some eggs in as well.

"Also, nothing to with it being an all-girls school?" Rick asked, placing a cup of hot chocolate in front of his daughter then his mug of coffee on the bench next to his husband, standing behind him.

"I'm all for a co-ed non-school uniform private school," Bri said, placing some bread in the toaster.

"Pfft, yeah right, I like the extra $30,000 in my bank account," Drew chuckled as he sipped his coffee.

"Are you serious?" Bri asked incredulously, her hand stilling as she looked at her fathers with wide eyes.

"Yeah," Rick laughed, placing his hands, on Drew's shoulders, "we were so happy when you didn't want to go."

"Wow," she muttered to herself, her focus returning to the food in front of her.

"How was your night?" Rick asked, placing a lingering kiss to the other man's forehead as he started rubbing his shoulders.

"Long," Drew groaned, relaxing into the feel of his husband's dexterous fingers. "A lot of dumb college kids, just makes the night feel like it goes on forever."

"I'm sorry," Rick cooed, massaging a large knot in the base of Drew's neck, "can I do anything for you?"

"Yeah," Drew sighed contently, closing his eyes "just keep doing that, feels fantastic."

Rick continued his massaged, to anyone else Drew was sure it would border on assault but it was exactly how he liked it. Deep, firm pressure that got into every nook and cranny of his tired aching body, undoing all the pent-up stress and anger he kept locked away in his shoulders and neck. It was heavenly, it had been a long time since he had been to a professional or his husband to give him a good rub down for that matter.

"Your neck's really tight," Rick commented, Drew hummed lowly in agreement as he felt it crack in release.

"I have a lot of tension in my inner thighs, maybe you could help me out with that?" Drew smirked at his husband, who chuckled in response.

"Eww, I'm standing right here," Bri groused, her nose scrunched up in disgusted.

"Oh," Drew uttered, opening his eyes, "I forgot you were here."

"Just for that, you get the slightly burnt pieces."

The family continued with their morning, joking around and discussing their plans for the day. Bri had an assignment to finish for school but was planning to take the dog down to the lake with a few friends and come home to finish it after. Drew was fine with her plans as long as she didn't plan on staying up all night to finish off the assignment which she promised not to. It was an empty promise though, more often than not either father would find their daughter awake, up in the late hours of the night hurriedly trying to finish work she had left to the last minute. They would complain about it more if her grades weren't so good.

As they finished breakfast Bri headed to her room and started getting ready for the day, Major, the German Sheppard following close behind her. Drew headed for the dishwasher with his dirty breakfast plate in hand when he felt it being lifted out of his hand and an arm slip around his waist.

"I got it," Rick assured, taking the plate from his husband's hand and moving to the dishwasher. "go get some sleep, you must be exhausted after your shift."

"A little," Drew admitted, as he watched the other man started loading the dishwasher, "I can help before I go to bed though."

"Of course not," Rick smiled, placing the washing tablet in its allocated slot, closing the door, and starting the cycle.

"What are you going to do all day?" Drew asked curiously as he saw his husband beginning to grab cleaning supplies from the cupboard under the kitchen sink.

"The house is a mess, so is the yard, that indestructible dog toy I bought Major? Not so indestructible and it's everywhere," Rick said with a roll of his eyes, "I was up early mowing the lawns before it got too hot, had a shower, and came down to the kitchen to find Bri recreating 'Psycho' with the knife."

"Cleaning the house? Yard work? Taking care of the kid?" Drew asked, placing the back of his hand to Rick's forehead, "are you feeling ok?"

"Piss off," Rick laughed, slapping his hand away.

"So, no ulterior motives then?

"Oh, there are always ulterior motives," Rick joked, "but you worked all night, the last thing you would want to do is come home and clean. I have the day off, it won't take long, I thought I would get it done. Plus, I decided to marinate some steaks last night, we should fire up the grill tonight and have a few drinks by the pool."

"I love you," Drew expressed wholeheartedly, Rick chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to his husband's lips. As much as he wanted to let it linger, Rick could tell that his husband was dog tired and ushered him upstairs towards their room. As he settled into bed, Drew watched in awe as the other man began tidying up, wiping over the bedside tables, straightening up their clothing in the walk-in robe and gathering the dirty laundry and taking it to the washing machine.

Drew sighed contently as he began to fall asleep, after taking care of others all the time; it felt nice to be taken care for a change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END!
> 
> THAT'S IT!
> 
> It always feels strange finishing a fic but I did it. 
> 
> A lot has been going on in my life lately, not a lot of it has been positive so I thank you all for your reviews and follows. It means so much to me!
> 
> Love Squiggle xx
> 
> PS Also that line about the private school? Totally true, don't know why but I decided to look up schools in Texas and one private school was $30k a year!


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